DA-BFAR Caraga, SIKAT hold I-FIT workshop in Siargao Island
By Venus
L. Garcia
SURIGAO
CITY, Surigao del Norte -- The Department of Agriculture - Bureau of Fisheries
and Aquatic Resources (DA-BFAR) Caraga with Sentro ng Katutubong Agham at
Teknolohiya (SIKAT, INC.), as the partner and support non-government
organization, recently conducted a workshop assessment using the Philippine
Illegal Unreported Unregulated (IUU) Fishing Index and Threat Assessment or
I-FIT tool among the nine municipalities in Siargao Island.
The
training participants actively engaged in the sessions such as arranging of
focuser statements to give them an idea of what the workshop was all about and
identifying IUU fishing activities present in their respective areas of
jurisdiction.
They also
worked together in providing inputs on the questions required to assess IUU
fishing activities in their municipal waters. They were also encouraged to
proactively coordinate and support each entity to solve the problem of IUU
fishing.
To
sustainably manage the fisheries resources and find long-lasting solutions to
IUU fishing threats, the I-FIT tool was developed and designed by Fish Right
Program and DA-BFAR in efforts to reduce and eliminate IUU fishing in the
country using a science and knowledge-based approach. This requires an in-depth
understanding of the context of IUU fishing in municipal waters and in a given
area.
This set
of tools enable to assess prevalence, vulnerability and responses to IUU
fishing in specific areas starting with the municipal waters of a local
government unit and use this information to identify opportunities to address
IUU fishing to develop targeted and focused strategies and interventions.
Using the
tool will enable law enforcers to come up with standardized and comparable
tracking of progress in a given area and the entire country in reducing IUU
fishing over time.
The
workshop assessment convened municipal agriculturists, agricultural technologists
for fisheries, municipal environment, and natural resource officers, FARMC
chairpersons, representatives from the 'bantay dagat' group and fisherfolk
organizations; and Philippine National Police representatives from the nine
municipalities in Siargao Island.
The workshop assessment was conducted by batch. The first group attended on June 22-23, 2021 from four municipalities, and for the second group for five municipalities on June 24-25, 2021. (DA-BFAR XIII FPLEG/PIA-Surigao del Norte)
